The 2021 Transformers year in review crowns Masterpiece Skids the toy of the year and HasLab Victory Saber the biggest news. Studio Series 86 Hot Rod sweeps best Voyager and best engineering.

Kingdom Tracks and the Ultimate Expanse X-Men collaboration share most disappointing toy. Diecast wins the 2021 prediction scorecard, and the crew walks through the year’s news month by month.

The 2021 RFC Awards

Best Leader Class and Up ended in a tie between Kingdom Commander Class Rodimus Prime and Studio Series 86 Grimlock. Don and Matt picked Rodimus Prime, calling it the best Rodimus to date. Rob and Brian picked Grimlock as the simple, chunky G1 Grimlock they always wanted. Chris chose the Titan Class Ark for redefining what a Titan can be, and Diecast chose HasLab Unicron.

Best Generations Selects went to G2 Ramjet, with votes from Don, Diecast and Matt for its black, purple and teal deco. Rob and Brian picked Selects Galvatron, which looks better without stickers and has correct shoulders. Chris picked Artfire as the first Hasbro release of the character.

Best Voyager was unanimous: Studio Series 86 Hot Rod. The crew praised its movie-accurate transformation, accessories and two-price-point design.

Best Deluxe went to Kingdom Airazor, picked by Rob and Chris as a Beast Wars update with the spirit of the originals. Don named the Walmart retro Headmaster reissues, and the crew gave them an honorary best packaging award. Matt picked Studio Series 86 Kup, and Brian picked Pipes.

Best Legends or Core Class went to Core Class Rattrap, picked by Rob, Chris and Diecast for deluxe-like engineering at a small size. Don and Brian both chose Core Class Starscream for its surprising transformation. Matt skips the Core Class entirely.

Best Engineering went to Studio Series 86 Hot Rod, picked by Don, Rob and Brian, with Rob noting how few quality problems it had. Chris chose Kingdom Cyclonus, Diecast chose Kingdom Rodimus Prime, and Matt chose Masterpiece Skids.

Best Toy of the Year went to Masterpiece Skids, picked by Diecast and Brian as a return to fun, affordable Masterpiece toys. Don chose the boxed Beast Wars Covert Agent Ravage set, Rob chose Studio Series 86 Grimlock, Chris chose Studio Series 86 Hot Rod and Matt chose Studio Series 86 Gnaw.

Most Disappointing Toys of 2021

Kingdom Tracks and the Ultimate Expanse X-Men collaboration tied. Don and Matt picked Tracks as a floppy, gappy figure, while Diecast got a good copy. Chris and Diecast picked Ultimate Expanse, a heavy Studio Series Jetfire retool with a disastrous robot mode. Its price dropped right after Chris paid full retail. Rob picked Kingdom Grimlock for a deco that misses Beast Wars Grimlock. Brian picked HasLab Unicron, a $600 toy he found too daunting to finish transforming.

Biggest News of 2021

Most of the crew voted for the HasLab Victory Saber campaign with Victory Leo. It was the first HasLab under $200, it hit all its stretch goals, and it beat Unicron’s backer total. Diecast and Don see it opening the door to more Japanese characters. Chris instead picked the Masterpiece Skids mold family and its red Honda City Reboost. Chris also named the true scale of Masterpiece Shouki and Raiden as the most disappointing news. Shouki is an HO-scale train, so the full Raiden will be about 11 to 12 inches tall and cost around $1,200.

2021 Predictions Scorecard

Diecast won with two hits: Masterpiece Skywarp and a next Generations line that differs from the trilogy. Don scored with Selects Black Zarak, and Brian with Studio Series 86 continuing into 2022. Chris got credit for Masterpiece Crosscut and half a point for an early Legacy leak. John got credit for another Transformers HasLab, and Rob missed on lower Masterpiece prices.

2021 Year in News

The month-by-month recap runs from the Masterpiece Skids announcement in January through Super7’s Transformers Ultimates waves, with an Optimus Prime finally holding a basketball. Spring brought the Beast Wars reissues, the Kingdom Galvatron shoulder saga, Amazon Australia leaks and the $700 Robosen Optimus Prime. Summer added Premium Finish, Project Jam Soundwave and the 2022 Generations leak. Fall brought HasLab Victory Saber, the Golden Disk Collection and the first official Legacy reveals. December closed with Super7’s G2 Megatron and Alligaticon, Buzzworthy Bumblebee fixes and Rise of the Beasts toy leaks.

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